- Exploring Difficult Commands -

A Letter to Dr. Laura

Part 4

by Brad Scott

In the mid 1800's Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of the first physicians to discover that the major cause of childbed disease may be doctors not washing their hands. This soon caught on as some observers of doctors conducting an autopsy in one room and then crossing the hall to deliver a baby in the other, concluded that perhaps the doctors should wash their hands in between. It was concluded that the handling of bodily fluids outside the body may be related to the spread of disease. You are kidding me! It was soon discovered that there may be things we cannot see that are the source of sickness and disease. As I peruse the book of Leviticus, in particular, I detected that God may be on to something. Below is another well informed musing from Mr. Wizard.

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev. 15:19-24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

It took several millennia for man to discover that blood inside the body is life, but blood outside the body is death. Yeshua‘’s death on the tree involved the shedding of blood as did the very first lamb. But life is being IN the body of Messiah. When one sees blood it is as if he/she intrinsically understands that something may be wrong. I have chosen to save for a later time a teaching on why women are saddled with this every month, but none the less, all women are and Mr. Wizard still does not understand. The Scriptures use the word tame’ or unclean, to describe her condition during this cycle. The word tame’(טמא) is made up of a tet, a mem, and an aleph. This ancient picture is something strong surrounding a fluid. It is dominantly used in Scripture by the Creator to desribe something unseen by His creation. By the way, that would include you, Mr. Wizard. It is the Designer knowing something about the inner works of the designed. Something or someone can become unclean by the insertion of a foreign substance. This is now common knowledge even among the intellectual elite. These things are happening in the atomic or unseen world. When one cannot see past the end of their nose this becomes frustrating and so they lash out with humor, not knowing that many are laughing at them rather than with them. Below are a couple of quotes from non-religious sources.

Scraped knees and boo-boos abound. Becoming "blood brothers" by touching blood to blood, cut to cut, might seem an innocent childhood rite. Teach your children about how to handle others' blood (Don't!"). Blood, urine, and saliva shold be treated with caution. They can harbor important viruses ... Blood should be cleaned up by adults and not children, using disposable towels that are then placed in a plastic bag. Gloves are preferable. Avoid contact with blood to breaks in the skin or to mucous membranes (mouth, nose, or eyes). Hands should be cleansed thoroughly after handling blood, and surfaces should be disinfected. www.drgreene.com.

Body fluid is the term most often used in medical and health contexts. Modern medical, public health, and personal hygiene practices treat body fluids as potentially unclean. EMT's are constantly trained in bodily fluid transmission and exposure. Wikipedia.

I know, the last quote was from Wikipedia. I could quote the obvious all day long. But, as prophesied in the Scriptures, the obvious is not always obvious to those who refuse to see. It reminds me of a story of a man who one day wakes up, turns to his wife and says, honey, I believe that I am dead. What did you say, she replies? I said, I believe I am dead. Thinking it was something he ate the night before, his wife ignores his words. The next morning he wakes up saying that he believes that he is dead. This goes on for a few weeks convincing her that her husband needs to see some professionals. After a battery of tests one of the doctors turns to the man and asks him if he believes that only living people bleed. The man soundly retorted no, I do not believe that only living people bleed. The doctors then brought out all their charts, diagrams and prooftexts. After a long verbal battle the man final concedes. Yes, now I believe that only living people bleed, to which a young doctor leaps off the chair and plunges a pin in the man's arm. Blood squirts everywhere as the man cries out, see you were wrong, dead men do bleed!

I understand that I have still not addressed Mr. Wizard's uninformed concern. I only wanted to establish why a women in her time of niddah is unclean. In the passages Mr. Wizard quoted we are told that this is a time that she is put away (KJV). These words in Hebrew are one word niddah. This word means to move away or distance one's self. Why? Because she is producing blood outside the body. It is a biologically necessary process at this time of her life. It was the ramification of what happened in the garden in the beginning and is the result of Adam's abdication of his protective responsibility. But what man meant for evil God will use for good. Every month this process paints a picture of the creation and the death, burial and resurrection of our Messiah. This is why this is called a cycle. The women is clean, then blood is shed (death), she is separated (burial) and then clean again (resurrected).

It would also behoove us to address the English word touch. It is this writer's opinion, based upon the meaning and use of this word in Hebrew, that touch in this case implies intimacy or sustained contact. The word in our designed ancient language is naga’(נגע). This word means to reach out with the hand or foot. Here are a few examples.

Bere’shiyt (Genesis) 3:3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Bere’shiyt 12:17And YHVH plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.

Bere’shiyt 26:11 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

Yehoshua‘ (Joshua) 8:15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.

As you can see, this word implies sustained close contact. Mr. Wizard probably invisioned playing tag as a youngster. Orthodox Judaism, in the interest of avoiding sustained contact, placed fences around these passages such as separate bedrooms or even separate houses. We all have to make personal judgments when it comes to applying these commandments, which brings me to Mr. Wizard's final sarcasm. He is correct in that how would another person know that a woman is in her separation. Well, perhaps if we taught our families what the Scriptures say from the beginning, this would be a no-brainer. Perhaps if we taught our children from their youth that they should simply tell someone. I have experienced the logical conclusion multiple times while out on the road. I am a touchy feely person. I am a big hugger and squeezer. Many times when reaching out to squeeze the living daylights out of some innocent female conference attendee, I am quietly told that she does not prefer to be hugged or to shake her hand. It is quite obvious why and no one is offended. Oh my goodness, says the limp wristed Mr. Wizard, I am so offended, what a burden and how intolerant can you be. It might be worthwhile to mention that shaking hands is a western phenomenon and may be responsible for a multitude of transmittable maladies.